


Dark Tevinter Wine

by thesteelage (allegedsavagery)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Canon Queer Relationship, Cole Is The Cutest, F/F, Long Wait on the F/F, M/M, Queer Themes, SO MUCH FLUFF, Shyness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 23:17:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11701917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allegedsavagery/pseuds/thesteelage
Summary: Shameless romance in Skyhold as the world threatens to burn.





	Dark Tevinter Wine

# Whispers in the Dark

Winter had set upon Skyhold and the castle was a strangely dark and cold place in this season. While something about the keep kept the ice and snow from encroaching entirely, it didn't stop the stones from howling as the winter winds whipped against the outer fortifications. The castle whistled and howled, creaked and groaned, and generally made a racket. Sleep had never been an easy thing for the Inquisitor, but this noise was certainly not helping anything. There are only so many times he can bring himself to go looking for secret passageways and rooms, and while finding more and more of them was certainly satisfying, at this point Reese was starting to believe they would never end. A task with no completion was as tedious as a task with no progress. So tonight he's wrapped himself in a thick fur from his bed and gone downstairs. Once in the hall, the only place to go that didn't involve talking to someone he didn't want to speak to was to go down further. The undercroft was far too cold, but the store rooms, they promised wine. 

Which is precisely where he stands now, bright blue eyes staring up at the shelves in the small, stone room. Bottles upon bottles stand vigil there, as though they look down at him disapprovingly for considering drinking, alone, at an hour like this. Gifts, mostly, from nobles who had come to visit Skyhold in the weeks following their establishing themselves here. They're all flashy, pretentious, mostly Orlesian, and they make his stomach churn just to look at. There was a distinct fashion of 'despair' and 'disdain' in Orlesian cuisine currently, and neither had ever settled well in his stomach. Two bottles sit together at the end, sent from his parents back in Ostwick. While it was certainly _good_ wine it would undoubtedly make him homesick. Homesickness would only keep him up longer. As he muses on all of the bad choices placed before him, his gaze settles on one bottle he doesn't recognize. The label has worn to the point where it has begun to lift and curl, obscuring the name and year. Curious, Reese reaches up, having to lift onto his toes to brush his fingers across the dusty bottle. It's on one of the shelves he can't reach easily, and he has to run his fingers frantically across the folded label to get the bottle to turn toward the edge of the shelf. Brow furrowed, tongue just slightly between his teeth, he stretches and jumps and... 

Fails. The bottle doesn't come down from the shelf, but the label creaks and snaps as it comes loose from the bottle. Fluttering down with the crinkle of old vellum, the label falls to the stone floor as though to mock him, face down so still it cannot be read. Huffing, Reese falls back from his toes with an undignified flump and then bends to snatch up the label with nimble fingers. The vellum is darker than his skin, and the ink darker than that, but only barely. This label has seen time, and much of its information has worn away. What Reese can make out, however, indicates this was bottled in Tevinter. On the folded side of the label, bright red ink stands out in a quick hand, _"To enjoy with a friend."_ It takes Reese longer than he cares to admit to realize he recognizes the handwriting. There he stands, tilting his head to the side, tongue still between his teeth, staring at this worn label like a fool when suddenly he jumps as though the slip of vellum is a deadly viper in his hand. _Dorian's hand._ A moment later, he laughs at himself and reaches down to take the label back up in his hand. Well, at least that answered that mystery. 

Except that it didn't. There's no way Dorian could have reached the shelf. He was taller than Reese, sure, but no one could call him all that tall. With narrowed eyes, he looks back up to the wine as though it is keeping some terrible secret from him. It's a look a few people in Skyhold (namely: Solas) were well familiar with but not very many inanimate objects were. With renewed dedication, Reese reaches up to the shelf again, bracing one foot against the wall. This time, he manages to knock the bottle from the shelf, and making his way to the ground first, he catches it deftly. It's a well-practiced skill, one needs to get creative when they grow up at Reese's height. With a satisfied little smile, he looks at the bottle closer and notices that the dust has been recently disturbed by a hand much larger than his own. More mysteries, indeed. Then, however, he stops. Now that he has the bottle of wine that is not his, what is he to do with it? What's more, what is he to do with it at _this_ hour? Even Dorian would be abed now, surely... 

_"It's been missing for awhile, he'll appreciate its return. He can't sleep either."_

The voice is heard but not heard, as is its owner's way. Dorian was known to keep strange hours from time to time, and if its his, and on a shelf he couldn't reach... Perhaps it had been misplaced. Then maybe he would smile in that way he only lets himself smile when he's legitimately surprised. Maybe Reese would manage to keep his composure in the wake of that smile this time. So many maybes. Reese's brow furrows again, and then he nods as he musters his courage. Dusty bottle tucked under his arm, he turns on his heel and leaves the storeroom. A few of the bottles are rearranged in his wake, for the benefit of Maker only knows who. 


End file.
